Holly Fuschia is a pretty shrub with leaves that look and feel like holly leaves but red fushia-like flowers rather than berries. If you have fond memories of holly from the Northern Hemisphere – or associate it with Christmas – this is a good substitute. But it is much more than that.
The flowers suit the beaks of little brown honeyeaters and the bush offers them lots of protection. Also popular with the noisy friarbirds.
I have two. One in a native bed on the east side of the house. A newer smaller one in the native square on the west side.
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- Evergreen Perennial
- Green glossy oval leaves
- Shrub to 5 Metres High. Mine has got up to 2m. It prunes easily.
- Semi-Shade / will tolerate Full Sun
- Red flowers to 35 mm in Spring
- Slow growing at first, but then grows rapidly
Would also make a good hedge or pot plant
Listed as Vunerable Species
Here it is flowering in July 2018
I planted a holly fuschia on the edge of our dry rainforest about 12 years ago. We now have a copse of these plants and we find them appearing within a ten metre radius of the original plant. They are very healthy and quite dense forming a great habitat for birds such as the Lewin’s Honeyeater. We had a visit by a large (approximately 4 metre) carpet snake which climbed into the upper reaches of these plants and remained for several hours.
I bought a tubestock plant early this year and have potted it on. For a few months now it has been in full sun in a black 25cm pot sitting in a 4cm ‘saucer’. I water it at least every second day. It flowers and looks very healthy. Need more rain to dig planting holes in my shale/clay soil. I will try and grow some cuttings in case it doesn’t survive, as it is a nice looking plant.